• Aphelion has disabled mainnet trading for their DEX in response to recent SEC rulings against similar exchanges
• The shutdown is meant to be temporary, but no timeline has been set for reactivation

On November 21at, the Aphelion DEX disabled all trading on its platform. Their users are encouraged to cancel orders and withdraw any contract or DEX balances. For those who don’t want or are not able to cancel orders and withdraw funds, they will be processed automatically starting November 23. If you have committed APH, you also need to claim these back to your wallet. Aphelion has no plans of immediately disabling these features. However, if they need to disable them, users can expect Aphelion to process APH claims automatically.

Since the release on October 10, the DEX collected 3500 APH in fees. 80% of these fees will be redistributed to the community.

Etherdelta sets a dark precedent

From the new SEC rulings and terrible market conditions to NEO tech problems and diminishing cash flow, Aphelion and other exchanges have experienced many challenges. It all started with SEC acting against EtherDelta. This event has set a new precedent, which directly affected Aphelion’s trading platform. Aphelion has been advised to immediately stop any of their trading activities so they can begin to identify a path towards compliance. Despite not getting a direct order from SEC to disable trading, Aphelion DEX decided to do it preemptively. According to them, it is a direct consequence of the EtherDelta action.

The path to compliance

Aphelion’s first step toward compliance is obtaining a broker-dealer license. They will either register as a national exchange or as a partner of another organization with an existing national exchange. They are also considering to enable full KYC-AML. Another option they have is to pair up with another project that’s close to compliance and integrate their tech processes, or to create an extra utility for the token to increase its value. Regardless of their final decision, Aphelion plans to continue analyzing and monitoring all options to push their plans toward compliance.

Besides the SEC, Aphelion is facing other challenges such as the market situation and operational costs. Since they only held a small ICO and with limited budget, they need to cut down their costs in order to continue operations. In addition to these challenges, they also need to consider market conditions. It’s no secret that the market condition is not at its best. Token values are plummeting. Moreover, NEO, the blockchain where Aphelion operates has also been experiencing tech challenges and a token value drop of 90% . This has directly impacted Aphelion’s cash flow.

For now, users can still use the Aphelion wallet across different platforms including Android, iOS, desktop, and web. The DEX is also fully functional on testnet so users can continue to try the platform out as Aphelion develop their product. However, their mobile version has to be paused as they look into the legal implications of the EtherDelta ruling.